Holiday Shipping Deadline: Order by 30 November

Every December, a predictable thing happens. People order gifts in the second week of the month, assume a week is plenty, and then spend the days before Christmas refreshing a tracking page.

So here is our date, early, in plain terms.

Order by 30 November

For a gift that needs to arrive before 24 December, order by Monday 30 November.

That is not a marketing deadline designed to rush you. It is arithmetic:

• We take one to three business days to prepare and dispatch an order.
• Delivery then runs six to fifteen business days.

At the slow end that is eighteen business days. Counting backwards from 24 December, eighteen business days lands on 30 November. Anything ordered after that can still arrive in time, and most of it will, but it stops being something we can promise.

The date happens to fall on Cyber Monday, which is convenient. It is also the reason we would rather you did your gift shopping that weekend than in the second week of December.

Why the window is wide

Six to fifteen business days is a range, not a hedge. Transit times vary with the destination, the carrier's December volume, and customs where it applies. We would rather publish an honest range than a flattering one you would remember for the wrong reasons.

Current details are always on the shipping policy page, which takes precedence over this article if the two ever disagree.

Tracking

Your tracking number is emailed when the order ships, not when it is placed. There is usually a quiet day or two before the first scan appears, which is normal and not a sign anything is wrong. You can follow an order from the order tracking page.

If you have left it late

Order the smaller items. A bag charm or a sensory toy moves faster through the system than a large plush chair, simply because of size and weight.

And if it is going to be close, tell the recipient. A card saying what is coming beats an empty space under a tree, and nobody has ever minded a gift arriving on the 27th when they knew about it on the 24th.

Where to start

The gifts under $50 page covers most stockings. Gifts $50 to $100 is where the collectibles and interactive plush sit. Premium gifts is the one-big-present page.